10 Things
by midnightnoon
Summary: A collection of "10 Things" stories. Now rated M for some language.
1. Rose Weasley

A/n: A piece I uploaded ages ago before promptly forgetting my account information. I have since gotten back into my account, so I decided to finally publish the thing. Hope you enjoy!

Disclaimer: I DO NOT OWN HARRY POTTER OR ANYTHING AFFILIATED WITH HARRY POTTER IN ANY WAY, SHAPE, OR FORM.

10 Things in Rose Weasley's Bag

10. A Simple Wedding Ring

Wizarding engagement rings are beautiful. Stones that represent the relationship and the people in it crowd onto delicate bands, usually of goblin gold or silver. Rose knows that when you glance at her hands, her engagement ring is the first thing to catch the eye.

However, wedding rings are mere bands, plain, without any decoration. Sometimes, there will be an inscription declaring love, but it is always on the inside. Wedding bands are promises, not declarations, and they are somber, simple, and lasting, as her vows should have been.

_I will love you until death parts us. _

_I will trust you with my life. _

_I will care for you and yours until the day I die. _

And on…

It's all true still, but it's faded with time. Not very much time certainly, but enough that she can tell something has always been wrong. It's just like her rings, she thinks, taking them off to wash her dishes. Her wedding band is simple and honestly the more important. But her engagement ring kept her riveted, hiding the promises she wanted to keep. She tosses them into her bag after a moment of deliberation. When the dishes are done, she reaches for the wedding ring; stops herself. Breathes out a deep breath and moves on.

9. A Yellow and Pink Pacifier

That's one thing she'll never regret about this whole marriage ordeal: having the baby. Janey is what brought them together, and she's what kept them here this long.

Rose remembers the moment she knew about Jane, even though she wasn't Jane yet, just an unnamed, unknown mass of tissue and fluids that was already loved. Rose already loved her, even though she knew the baby would probably ruin her life as she knew it.

Rose remembers telling Mathew about Jane, telling her parents and his together, in hopes that they'd kill each other, instead of them. It almost worked, until her mum saw reason. Then, the tables had turned and they were in for some serious trouble, until- Thank MERLIN- her father had to be his typical idiot self and yell, "Rose, you're grounded for the next year!" It was a long time of course, and at first the silence was because of that. But then, someone snorted, and everyone realized how ridiculous it was to ground a mother-to-be, even if she was only seventeen.

Janey always eats around nine, just before going down for her nap, and Rose tucks the dummy in her pocket for later, only to find it when searching for spare change in the afternoon. Rolling her eyes at her own absentmindedness, she chucks it in her purse with the rest of the junk she owns.

8. A Snack of Cracker and Grapes

She doesn't really know what Luke likes, but all toddlers seem to be fond of finger food, and the grapes are charmed non-chokable, so it should be safe, yeah? She hopes so, to the bottom of her soul, and nervously packs the little tin up with Jane's sippy cup. It's terrifically plain that Scor has much more of an idea what he's doing than she does, even though he's a single dad. It's a bit frustrating, to tell the truth. He'd always bested her in school, and apparently, things haven't changed.

7. A Good Mucky Book

She figures she should probably burn the thing, but returns it to the library instead. Not only is she glad it's finally off Lily's radar, but she's glad it's out of her bedside table. She knows how it got there- a woman can only get so desperate- but doesn't know why it stayed. She supposes it's because she owes the book a little. It made her realize that she needed a whole lot bloody more than she had, and that the book itself didn't count. It's what inspired her actions as of late, the ones she's proud of, even though they also make her feel a little sick.

6. A Pair of White Sunglasses

She buys them as she's leaving the library. They're on a little stand across the road from the shop, and they captivate her. She tries them on, balancing Janey on her hip as she peers into the mirror she conjured. Her pale skin, framed by dark red hair, and now the large, white sunglasses, stare back at her. She buys them, even though she usually tries to avoid such impulsive things. Later, she realizes why they caught her attention: weeks ago, she'd seen an ad in a magazine. The ad was for perfume or underwear or something else ridiculous and consisted of a picture of a blonde man and a redhead. She had taken it as a sign. In the picture, the woman wore white sunglasses and the man stared at her as if he'd never let her go.

5. A Family Photo

It's not of "her" family, per se, not her and Mathew and Jane, but to her, that was never her family as much as the Weasley-Potter brood. The photo was taken in her sixth year on New Year's Eve, just before everything changed. Mathew had come home with her, Jas had come home with Hugo, and Albus had brought Scorpius around every day, to "get him away from his sodding folks." Mathew had volunteered to take the picture and is the only one not in it. As she watches now, she feels extreme guilt, because even then, Scor's eyes cannot stop themselves from sliding over to her, and she is staring back a little, even though she's grinning at the camera. She tucks it away, a memory that has shaped her more than almost any other.

4. A Magically Expanding Crib

She knew she'd need it, she thinks, as she rushes around his newly-cleaned flat. This is a surprise for him, and she can't bollocks it up. It's going to be special, and with a tired Janey hanging on her, nothing's ever going to get done. She pulls out the crib, taps it with her wand, chucks some toys in and settles Jane in with a blanket. Within minutes, she is sleeping. Rose sighs at the exact same moment her daughter does, and she goes back to her task with a smile. She can only hope that she's still that innocent and that one day her daughter will be as certain about her life as Rose is now. She checks the clock- 10, damn him for working so late- and flies back into motion.

3. A Sheer Lace Babydoll Nightie

She's not sure what inspired this part of his birthday plans in her, but she's sort of glad she thought of it. No doubt it was Lily's influence. Plus, she's still only nineteen, and her body's pretty damn good for a mum, if she says so her self. She puts the thing on, and then, feeling slightly ridiculous, puts her clothes back on over it. She smoothes things out to make sure you can't tell, then walks back to the kitchen to start dessert.

2. A Family Recipe

She knows he ate dinner at the office, because that's what he does. So, she's making dessert. Almost against her instincts, she's making a Grandma Molly recipe. She almost feels that it's a betrayal of the family that has always despised the Malfoys, but Molly herself was never so open about her dislike, if there was any, and Scor is different than the others. Plus, her stronger instincts tell her that Victoire is right, Molly's cooking is more than enough to hold onto a man, and that is what she wants to do.

She also knows that little Luke Malfoy is probably asleep under his desk, as his poor, tired, single father toils away. So, when Scor comes in, Luke is in his arms, sleepy and yawning, she points to Luke, mouthing that Jane's crib is set up in his room. Luke doesn't even notices that she's there. Scorpius raises his eyebrows, but tucks his son in obediently.

1. A Piece of Paper

Much, much later, when he's eaten the dessert and seen the negligee, after she's launched herself at him, sprawling him across the bed and slept with him for the first time- finally, finally- and he still hasn't asked any questions, she gives him the answer.

"Scor," she murmurs into his neck, "I haven't given you your present yet." He chuckles from under her, a warmer version of the Malfoy one everybody else knows.

"What has all this been?" he asks. "All this… everything. I wish…" '_…this could last,' _remains unsaid, but she already knows that's what he wishes; she did too.

"I know," she says. She sits up, straddling his hips, and pulls a piece of paper from where she'd hidden it earlier, in his left pillow, the one he doesn't use. "Happy Birthday." He takes it from her, reads it; blinks. Then, he sits up, so he's facing her and when she wraps her legs around him, he's faced with the impossible realization that he never has to leave this embrace.

"Rose…" He can barely speak, so just cups her face in his hands, and Rose used-to-be-Wood's divorce certificate falls to the ground next to his bed.

"Don't," she says. "This is the only thing I could give you, and I know it's the only thing you've ever wanted anyway."

"What?" he asks, because saying she's his sole life-long wish seems ridiculously vain, even for her. But she bends her lips to kiss his neck and when the words 'a family' imprint on his skin, he realizes just what she's doing.

"Thank you," he says. "Just... thank you."

A/n: Hope you enjoyed this piece. Please read and review, if you have the time!


	2. Draco Malfoy

A/n: Requested by IfWeLivedaLittleEveryDay . Hope you like it!

Disclaimer: I DO NOT OWN HARRY POTTER OR ANYTHING AFFILIATED WITH HARRY POTTER IN ANY WAY, SHAPE, OR FORM.

9 Things in Draco Malfoy's Desk and One Thing in His Trash Can

0. The New Order

Draco Malfoy isn't sure what to do with himself. He's just run from the school and he's on the Order's doorstep. Weasley told him where to find it, so he's here, but there's nothing there yet, because Weasley wasn't the Secret Keeper. Draco knew this when he ran, but he didn't have much of a choice. When Voldemort seized the school, he knew he had to get out. And with Weasley dead, he knew there was at least one opening in the Order.

He finally catches a glimpse of Remus while loitering one day, and almost gets himself killed getting himself noticed. He supposes it isn't Lupin's fault he thought he was an attacker. Sooner than he'd expected, he's part of the Order, filling the place where Weasley was. He thinks Harry, Hermione, and Ginny resent him for it a little, but he can't help it. He knows now that this is the right thing, and he wants others to know too.

So when Harry mentions a raid on the school, he volunteers right away.

1. A Map

They plan the raid for months. In the end, Draco solves their last problem and Harry says it's a go. But Draco still worries, so he takes the map, studying it every night for a week. And in the end, he was right to worry.

"Malfoy, WHAT were you thinking?" she said.

"What was I thinking- what were YOU thinking?"

"I was thinking that maybe if we were actually STEALTHY we could get some people out of there alive!"

"And _I _knew that wasn't the case!"

"WHAT? Look how this turned out, Draco! They all DIED!"

"And WE didn't!"

"I cannot BELIEVE you just said that!" she said. Several of the onlookers to clapped their hands over their ears. "It's entirely selfish-"

"As I am!"

"And entirely cowardly!"

"WHAT?" he said. "COWARDLY?"

"Yes, COWARDLY. I was willing to DIE for those people; that's what you don't understand! That's why you shouldn't be here, why you will never be like us!"

"NOW who's being discriminatory?" he said. She made a frustrated noise.

"I'm not being DISCRIMINATORY, Malfoy- my problem's with you and you ALONE!"

"Which MEANS you're discriminating against me!"

"I think you deserve it after what you just pulled!"

"'What I 'just pulled'? Granger, what I 'just PULLED' saved your life!"

"Saved my life? I saved my own life, thank you very much!"

"No, you saved mine," he said.

2. A Wand

When Draco was eleven, he was given a wand. He didn't fully understand wand-making, as most people don't, and expected there were only so many kinds of wands you could get. He assumed he would get a wand similar to his father's, but instead, Ollivander gave him a very different wand, and told him it was all his own. At the time, he'd been disappointed, but by now, he has realized that he doesn't want to be like his father. And he's using the wand against the man his father serves.

Draco and Hermione stood, breathing heavily, staring at each other, in a ring of people. They'd been sent on a mission and had completed it, but with six casualties. Going in, Draco had been told she was the most important person to get out. He'd been planning for that. She'd been told to protect him at all costs. She'd decided not to.

"I… did?" she asked finally. He nodded.

"Flint… you blocked Flint. He was aiming-"

"At you," she breathed. "And you Stunned Avery. YOU Stunned him." There was one of those audible silences as the twenty-three Order members watching waited to see how she would react.

"I… you… how COULD you?" Twenty-four people flinched. Draco also frowned.

"How could I- how COULD I?" he roared. "They TOLD me too, they all said YOU were the one to get out! I was following bloody ORDERS!"

"I don't care about orders!" she shouted. "I can take care of myself! Those were children we left there to die! They were just children!"

"They were all seventh years," Draco said quietly. "Sixteen, at the youngest."

"Exactly- children!"

"You're only eighteen," he said even more quietly. She didn't hear him.

"They had NO idea," she raved. "They… they saw me… us… they thought I was there to SAVE them! And then you came and half of them probably died thinking I was a traitor! We just-"

"So this is about your ego? You're upset that they died with a bad impression of you?"

"NO! I didn't want them to die at all! I didn't want them to die at all! They didn't DO anything, Draco! They didn't do anything wrong!"

"Neither did YOU! Merlin, woman, you are IMPOSSIBLE!"

"I'M impossible? Try having an arrogant, bigoted pig who thinks his plans are the best and ONLY way to go about things as your partner EVERY DAY, Malfoy!"

"I already DO, GRANGER!"

3. A Letter from his father

Right after Draco ran, his father sent him a letter. Three days later he finally read it out of the kind of curiosity you hate. It was the usual drivel about following orders and what the hell was he doing betraying the family, but at the end, his father had written something that Draco had not expected.

'You are such a disappointment,' he wrote. 'I thought I'd raised you better than to consort with those beneath you. And that Mudblood girl is beneath you, Draco, no matter how misguided you are at the moment.'

In the phrase, there was hope that Draco would reform. But Draco has since seen enough of Hermione to know that, not only is she his superior in every way, but that she has qualities his father would admire. After all, she thinks she is and deserves the best.

"I've had enough of this," Hermione said. "I'll complain! I'll tell them what you are, Malfoy- a spoiled little brat with no real stake in our cause! You're taking the easy way out and-"

"'Easy way'? EASY way? Granger, there IS no easy way! And I picked the harder of the two ways, thank you very much!"

"Oh, sure, Draco, you think it's harder fighting for what's right!"

"It IS if you've got people on the other side! They're people too, you know, and you've been raised with them and then, all of a sudden you realize they're wrong and you're right and it means you should hate them but you can't!"

4. A picture from fifth year

He took it with him as a reminder of how things can go wrong so quickly. And besides, he does miss Pansy and Zabini. Even if they're a bunch of purist idiots, they were his friends, after all.

"At least you're right!" she said. "At least you're on the right side!"

"Fuck you!" he yelled back, taking a step forward. Everyone in the circle around them took a step back, and he seized her shoulders. "Shut up, just SHUT UP! Oh, fuck this!" His hands shifted to her face and he kissed her, hard. She froze.

"Just…STOP, Granger!" he said, kissing her again. "Stop it!" He kissed her again. "Please, just… shut… up." His voice got quieter and the kiss got softer at each pause. They stared at each other, then jumped away. He flexed his hands as if they were sore. She dug her nails into her cheek in horror. All were silent. Draco glanced to his left and saw Ginny standing there, looking somewhat murderous. Then his eyes moved back to Hermione. She made to take a step toward him and he stiffened, but she stopped herself.

"I'm… terribly sorry, everyone," she said in that voice that he knew so well. The one that was utterly controlled, as she wanted everyone to see her, and yet, was nothing like her. "Things got out of hand and I will not allow it to happen again. As you've undoubtedly heard, I will be making a complaint and soon, there will be a change in partners for several people, possibly. I'm terribly sorry if any of you are inconvenienced, but I believe this is the only way to go about things."

5. Last week's schedule

Last week, when Harry handed out the schedules, Draco noticed two things: that he was scheduled for normal shifts, finally, and that over half of them are with Hermione. When he casually brought it up to Harry, the Boy Wonder just scoffed.

"You want to know why? You've proven you're worthy, that's why." He went to leave the room, but stopped in the doorway and looked back. "And the thing with Hermione is just that you're crazy for each other." He ducked out of the way before Draco's jinx could hit him.

"So that's it, then?" he asked. She paused. "You're just going to interrupt things for everyone because we can't get over our juvenile little feud?" He scoffed. "I know you're better than that, Granger; we could do it, if we really wanted to." Suddenly, she knew that he was not talking of staying crime-fighting partners, but of something else, something she hadn't dared to think of since her sixth year of school three years ago.

"We… can't," she said, barely noticing that the Order was trickling out around them. "I can't do that. The things we've said to each other can't be unsaid, Draco. It doesn't work that way." He shook his head.

"Of course it doesn't. And I don't want them unsaid. You know that."

"I don't… we can't forgive each other either."

"I think we can," he replied firmly and for the first time since he'd kissed her, she met his eyes. "We can," he repeated. She bit her lip.

"It's not that simple, Draco," she said quietly, almost crying. "Maybe… you can, but I can't." For some reason, this infuriated him and he stepped closer, towering over her, as the last of the others left the small room.

"So even though I'm willing to forgive you, you're not willing to even try? I never said anything worse than you did, Granger; you always fought back." She shook her head, crying in earnest.

"That's exactly what I mean. I don't know if I can forgive MYSELF. When I'm around you… I'm the worst possible version of myself. I say things I shouldn't even be THINKING, I'm too bloody HONEST and I can't control what I say and keep to myself… I'm impulsive!"

6. A vial containing one memory

Draco doesn't always have access to a Pensieve, but when he does he tries to use it. Helps to clear the head, Snape said, and he was right. However, these days, it just jumbles his thoughts more. Because these days, he only watches one memory: the one of being slapped in third year.

"Maybe…" He reached out and took hold of her hand. "Maybe that's a good thing." She shook her head violently.

"It is not." She shook her head, backing away but keeping his gaze. "I am a systematic person, Malfoy. I need to think things through and process them, filter them, to make sense of everything. And when I can't do that… I can't make sense of myself. So truly, this girl you kissed tonight wasn't me. And I beg you to forget it, as I would like to." She bit her lip and seemed on the verge of saying more, but instead ran to her room in the upstairs of Grimmauld Place. It seemed everything had gone quiet. Draco stood in the kitchen, quietly, alone.

7. His new schedule

Harry passes out new schedules and, damn it, this one doesn't have him with Granger at all. Draco doesn't know why, but he kind of wants to punch Potter now. More than usual, that is.

After the argument, Draco didn't see Granger for four days, twenty-one hours, and three minutes. He wasn't even sure how he ended up alone with her. All he knew was that after the nightly meeting, he'd been talking to Lupin about organizing patrols and suddenly, Remus was excusing himself, everyone else was rushing out of the kitchen, and across the table, also alone and staring at him as if she was entirely terrified, was Granger.

8. A Deluminator

Basically, the entire Order knows the story of how Ron Weasley got the Deluminator. Bloody oaf couldn't shut up about it for ages after things. The part they don't know is that, when he died, Draco was with him. And before he died, Ron pressed a _thing _into his hand and said, 'You'll want to find your way someday.' When Draco notices it in his desk, he feels almost as if it is a sign. He needs to find Granger, but now that he he has, he isn't entirely sure how to go about things.

"Granger. Hello." He noticed she was shaking. She nodded.

"Mal… Draco. Malfoy." He hid a smirk.

"Granger."

"You said that already."

"I know. What do you want me to say?" Hermione looked down silently for a minute.

"That you don't hate me after what I said."

"I don't." Hermione looked up quickly.

"You… you don't? How could you not? I said horrible things, things I didn't mean and that you didn't deserve. I'm sorry." Draco bowed his head.

"Granger… I'll admit that I didn't deserve a lot of the things you said. But I deserved your anger." Hermione shrugged uncomfortably.

"It turned out all right, I think. I know how to defend myself, control my emotions. And you're not so bad now."

"Actually, I do rather like getting your goat still, Granger. There are certain things… there are certain things that annoy you that I can't resist doing, even though I'm capable of doing so."

"You know how to whisper, don't you?"

9. A nice stack of books

There's a lot of research to be done, now that they know Voldemort's attempting another potion of sorts. The best two at potions are Hermione and Draco, so they're often scheduled in the library together. They're actually supposed to work together too, but she mostly just ignores him, even when he tries to ask questions. She says he's too loud for a library, and that he's distracting, but he mostly just thinks she doesn't want to talk to him.

"Pretty much. I only don't because I know it annoys you when I don't whisper in the library."

"I'm only pretending to be mad. It's sort of a delightful little quirk that you can't whisper. I suppose you can though, so… Well, I'm not that distracted anyway- I'm only pretending to read when you're there."

"I knew it." Hermione gazed over at him. He stood slowly and came to stand in front of her. She shook, torn between stepping up to him and backing away. He was just the distance that she had to do either. She looked up at him.

"What do you want, Granger?" he asked. Her eyes darted frightenedly. He took her hand.

"You don't have to be scared of me," he said quietly. "I'm not going to hurt you anymore. What do you want?" She bit her lip, looking down at her feet. Finally, she looked up.

"I just want a chance to really get to know you," she said. He nodded.

"There may be no one who knows me better."

1. A newspaper clipping

Before the Battle of Hogwarts, Draco was still living at the school. He was still getting the paper. And, he'd learned one morning, that Weasley and Granger were still together and going strong. In fact, the Prophet said that they'd been spotted together in Muggle London, hiding there from Voldemort no doubt. For some strange reason, Draco had lost his appetite.

Through working with her, Draco had realized he'd felt sick because he wanted her. Since third year, he'd thought she was the one for him, but hadn't seen it, because of the blood barrier. Then, once the barrier was gone, Weasley was in the way. He'd kept this newspaper clipping as a reminder that Granger was Weasley's, no matter that he was dead. But she's shown a remarkable amount of willingness to move on, and Draco's ready to move with her.

Despite the fact that he owes Weasley rather a lot, Draco doesn't need the reminder anymore.


	3. LiveJournal Announcement

UPDATE! UPDATE!

I have recently begun to feel very... unprotected on this site. Mostly because I know quite a few people who were plagiarised here and on . So, I've decided to make the move to LiveJournal! I already had an account there, but created a new one, just for writing. There will be fanfiction, including the stuff here (and continuations of that) and original fiction, because my non-fiction is stuffy and pedantic and you don't want to read that anyway. I will add this message as a chapter in all my currently posted stories, along with a link to my new account! I'm really sorry if this is a major inconvenience for anyone, but I am willing to leave my LJ totally public for a little bit, so everyone can find me and decide if they want to go to the trouble of getting an account there and such.

Words and well wishes,

MidnightNoon


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